Category: Hobbit Fan Fellowship Contest

This blog is part 7 of my journal about my unexpected journey to New Zealand, as winner of The Hobbit Fan Fellowship Contest!

Day 5: Wellington

With mixed feelings we left Queenstown this morning: it was already the last day of our adventure in New Zealand. I really didn’t want to leave the beautiful city of Queenstown, but today’s activities were the ones we have all been waiting for: visiting Weta Workshop and meeting Peter Jackson at the private screening of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies!

Unveiling Smaug at Wellington Airport

Air New Zealand flew us to the Middle of Middle-earth: Wellington. At the airport of Wellington I was so excited to see the larger than life installments made by Weta Workshop of the Eagles with Gandalf (a fun detail: on Gandalf’s hat there is a weta bug) and of Gollum cathing a fish. We were all surprised when Richard Taylor, the founder, creative director and head of Weta Workshop was there to welcome us in Wellington! (For the muggle readers: Weta Workshop is the company which created all the costumes, weapons, props and (digital) special effects on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies and many other movies). For this special occasion, he unveiled a new installation on the airport together with us! Jake Hudson, the youngest Wizard of our group, had the privilege to unveil a huge head of Smaug, with moving eyes and smoke coming out of his nose! Even the local news was there (watch the report of New Zealand 3 News here). And we were featured on the Weta Facebook!

Gollum at Wellington Airport (Photo by Amy Earl)Sculpture of Gandalf on a Great EagleRichard Taylor welcoming us on Wellington AirportUnveiling a new sculpture of Smaug at Wellington AirportNatscha Webb (Air New Zeland), me and Emma Bell (Tourism New Zeland) at Wellington AirportThe Hobbit Fan Fellowship on the banner of the Weta Workshop Facebook page

Roxy Theatre

Our next stop was Roxy Theatre, where we were welcomed by Jamie Selkirk (editor and producer), Tania Rodger and Richard again. We we were treated with a presentation by Weta Digital on production design by Matt Aitken (Weta Digital effects supervisor) and Daniel Falconer (designer and concept artist). Matt showed us the process of creating and layering digital effects like in the scene of the eagles’ rescue (Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire) with all its different angles. Daniel Falconer designed the real cool stuff in the movies like Arwen’s sword. He showed us concepts and photos of the design process of armour, weapons, architecture and costumes, “and enjoyed having an audience he could ‘geek out’ to, diving into First Age Middle-earth history references”, like Amy beautifully wrote in her blog.

On the way out we got a gift from Tania: authentic 35 mm celluloid filmstrip from The Lord of the Rings. Arjen and I were given shots of Frodo and Sam walking in Rivendell and Aragorn leaning over the dying Boromir from The Fellowship of the Ring.

Roxy Theatre in Wellington (Photo by Amy Earl)Welcome in Roxy by Richard Taylor, Tania Rodger and Jamie Selkirk35 mm film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Weta Workshop

Next up was one of my favorite memories of the whole trip: actually visiting Weta Workshop! We did mini workshops of making chainmail, how to create fake blood, sword making by smith Peter Lyon and some lucky few of us got applied prosthetic hobbit ears by Gino Acevedo. I took a shot and went on a photo with Richard Taylor. I was wearing my own made chainmail necklace and he said he really liked it! ❤ I was in nerd-heaven. They also retrieved props and weapons from them movies that were stored for years, especially for us to see. In a little shop we bought a map of The Shire and a Weta Workshop t-shirt.

We also did a Weta Cave Workshop Tour where we got to see an awesome collection of costumes, weapons, sculptures and designs from all the movies Weta has worked on so far. At the end we received a gift from the Weta crew: a piece of chainmail which was actually used by the dwarves on set!

Me and Richard Taylor at Weta WorkshopGino applying hobbit ears on MeluA gift from Weta: Dwarven chainmailMe with Thorin’s sword Orcrist. It was so light!Playing around Weta CaveSmaug sculpture at Weta CaveTrolls at the Weta Cave

Meeting Sir Peter Jackson

At the end of the day we all put on our finest clothes for the epic final evening. Especially our fellow Wizards from Australia, Amy and Adam, in their own designed and made breathtaking Elven costumes.

I was actually nervous when we arrived at the Park Road Post Production facility, owned by WingNut Films, the production company of Peter Jackson. This facility is where sound for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) was mixed. This was the moment we all have been waiting for: the private screening of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies with the director himself! After a drink and security check, we all took a seat in the beautiful art-deco movie theater with a ceiling like a starry sky.

Here the masterminds behind the movies waiting for us: Joe Letteri, senior visual effects supervisor and has won five Oscars, Jed Brophy (Nori in The Hobbit) and Philippa Boyens, writer of the screenplay of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies and who has won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Of course this panel wouldn’t be complete without the biggest fan of all: Sir Peter Jackson! It was an unbelievable moment when he came in, everybody cheered. We all got the chance to ask them questions before the screening. Among the fans there where a lot of aspiring filmmakers, including me as an aspiring screenwriter, and Peter Jackson said to us:

Don’t give up. When you don’t give up you distinguish yourself from those who do. And then you will get there. – Peter Jackson

We presented Peter a thank you card and a tea mug. Before the movie, he warned us: he only slept for 3 hours since he was in the middle of the post-production of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. So the ones who sat next to him had to keep him awake.

The thank you card from The Hobbit Fan Fellowship to Peter

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Since Ann from Belgium had found the Ring on day 3, she got to sit next to Peter! Now it was finally time to see the final movie of The Hobbit trilogy: The Battle of the Five Armies as the first audience in the whole world! You all probably have seen the movie by now and it was epic right?

Private screening BOTFA with Peter Jackson

What I find really special about the screening was the fact that the movie wasn’t finished yet! There were shots with green screen on the background and certain digital effects weren’t finished yet. Remember when the were-worms come out of the ground followed by an Orc army? The whole army wasn’t there yet! On screen there was only a moving text with ‘Orc army’. Also in the gorgeous scene at Dol Guldur where Elrond, Saruman and Galadriel are fighting the Nine, the Nazgûls where only white, square models. I was blown away when I saw the finished movie later and how they created those spirit like Nazgûls! A funny one was the entrance of Beorn during the battle: he changes from a human into a *poof* (not animated) bear, instead of a beautiful morph like in the final movie. It was such an amazing experience to see the unfinished movie like this.

The movie ends with the heart breaking song ‘The Last Goodbye’ by Billy Boyd. I think nobody kept it dry. The song meant so much at this moment: the end of this epic adventure, to have to say goodbye to the friends we have made, to have to leave this beautiful country, but also the last movie about a little hobbit. No more movies about unexpected journeys in Middle-earth. After a year, I still cannot listen to this song without shedding some tears.*snob* So we created our own meme:

After the screening Peter Jackson signed something for everyone and had a little chat. I could see he was so tired, but he spoke to all of the 150 fans. We were on the last row and it took probably more than an hour before we got to him, but I managed to gave him some Dutch sirup waffles or ‘stroopwafels’. He also signed my copy of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey EE. Finally, we made a group photo with Peter. Then we were taken back to the hotel for our last night in New Zealand.

My copy of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey EE signed by Peter Jackson and Jed BrophyHobbit Fan Fellowship with Peter Jackson at Park Road Post

In my last and final blog about my unexpected adventure in New Zealand I want to thank everyone involved and share my most precious memories. For now, here is the final video diary by Tourism New Zealand:

THIS BLOG IS PART 6 OF MY JOURNAL ABOUT MY UNEXPECTED JOURNEY TO NEW ZEALAND, AS WINNER OF THE HOBBIT FAN FELLOWSHIP CONTEST!

DAY 4: Discovering Queenstown & Mt Nicholas

This afternoon we got to choose between four activities: the adventure experience (jet boat & canyon swing), the wine tasting experience, the cycle trail experience and a boat cruise & sheep farm experience. We choose for the boat cruise with Southern Discoveries. The ship took us around the scenic lake Wakatipu and Bob’s Grove, or Te Punatapu, the sacred waters. The view was breathtaking: we were surrounded by The Remarkables mountain range, the blue lake and fifty shades of green trees…

Queenstown and The RemarkablesArjen at the Southern Discoveries cruiseCruising on Lake WakatipuThe Remarkables and the iconic steamship the TSS EarnslawBob’s Grove

The ship sailed us to Mt Nicholas farm, where we experienced the life on a Merino sheep farm. Mt Nicholas is of the largest stations in New Zealand (with 400 000 000 m2 of land) and is home to 30.000 Merino sheep and 2.200 Hereford cattle. We were served a rustic lunch, from which most of the food is grown on the farm itself.

After the lunch, we did a 4WD Farm Tour around the station. Here we saw some day to day farm activities and the sheep and cattle enjoying their enormous habitat (I’m quite jealous to be honest). The views were amazing. It was such a relaxing trip!

The rest of the day we had spare time to discover Queenstown! So this morning we roamed around the pretty Queenstown with our Finnish friends to get some breakfast and coffee. We visited the Lord of the Rings shop, bought some kiwi souvenirs and I fell in love with a beautiful replica of Nenya at the jeweler. Nenya, the ring of Adamant, is one of the three elven rings of power in The Lord of the Rings and is wielded by Galadriel.The replica is made out of silver with a blue zirconia. I feel really lucky, because my precious boyfriend gave it to me as a gift! Since I have tiny fingers, it was too large, but luckily the friendly jeweler was happy to costumize the ring to my size.

Nenya, the ring of AdamantTroll at The Lord of the Rings shopPippin at the Lord of the Rings shop

Back in Queenstown after the cruise we were kidnapped by Manesha and Hazel who took us to the most scary experience of my life: a 4D shooting zombies game at X.D. Dark Ride. This interactive motion ride was so immersive because of the 360 surround sound environment, 3D stereoscopic graphics and special effects for a multi sensory experience, like a moving chair and wind effects. You are placed in a The Walking Dead scenario where zombies crawl over the border of the screen towards you. You only have a laser gun to shoot them down, while your car falls of a cliff… It only takes about 10 minutes, but it’s so worth it! It was really, really scary! What we didn’t know is that there taken pictures while we were screaming and shooting. You should have seen the look on my face on the picture… pure horror! I really recommend to do this if you ever have the chance!

We concluded our day in Queenstown with a lovely diner at Captains Restaurant, a last stroll around the city, the docks and the lake that we were so going to miss.

Kiwi!The Remarkables and Lake WakatipuMine?

Take a look what our fellow hobbit fans experienced in Queenstown this day in the video blog by Tourism New Zealand:

In my next blog I will talk about our last, but not least, day in New Zealand! It was the day we were all looking forward to: meeting sir Peter Jackson and the private screening of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in Wellington!

This blog is part five of my journal about my unexpected journey to New Zealand, as winner of The Hobbit Fan Fellowship Contest. Today we flew to Queenstown and did a tour around filming locations of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in Paradise.

THIS BLOG IS PART FIVE OF MY JOURNAL ABOUT MY UNEXPECTED JOURNEY TO NEW ZEALAND, AS WINNER OF THE HOBBIT FAN FELLOWSHIP CONTEST!

Day 3: Hobbit & LOTR Filming Locations

We had to get up early upon our hobbit feet to the airport of Rotorua. With Air New Zealand we flew in a private Hobbit Fan Fellowship airplane to our next destination: Queenstown!

On our way to Queenstown with Air New ZealandArrived in Queenstown!

Queentown is located on the southern island of New Zealand. My jaw dropped when we got off the airplane: what a different landscape! On the northern island we saw green little hills, but the airport of Queenstown lies in a valley formed by huge mountains with beautiful white snowy tops, close to the azure blue lake Wakatipu. This was probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.

We were greeted by the crew of Nomad Safaris to take us on a tour around filming locations of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit triologies. The jeep’s license plates were even in style: our jeep’s called Eowyn.

With Nomad Safaris touring around QueenstownIn the jeep with the lovely Emma Bell, our host from Tourism New ZealandJeep’s licensce plate Eowyn

We were brought on top of Queenstown Hill, the filming location of the most epic safety video ever made by Air New Zealand, starring Dean O’Gorman, Sylvester McCoy, Elijah Wood, Richard Taylor and Peter Jackson.

Here we had a gorgeous view over Queenstown, lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables, or Extendables as Peter Jackson called them, the mountains which he used to represent the Misty Mountains. Moreover, we saw the hill from which Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) falls after the fight with Sharku (Jed Brophy) during the Warg attack in The Two Towers.

Next stop was Arcadia Station in Paradise near Glenorchy. To get here, we drove alongside lake the gorgeous lake Wakatipu surrounded by mountains. As the name predicts, Paradise is absolutely stunning! The colors, the mountains, the forests… No wonder that this area were the filming locations of Isengard and Beorn’s home.

Paradise, filming location of IsengardIsengard in The Lord of the RingsGandalf and Bilbo meeting BeornParadise, the filming location of Beorn’s homeWith beautiful trees

On the road to Arcadia Station we received another video message from Peter Jackson in which he announced a treasure hunt. In the forest around Beorn’s home there was something hidden. The one who would find it, would earn a seat next to Peter Jackson during the private screening of The Battle of the Five Armies on our last dayin Wellington. The 150 contestants tried to find this treasure, which was a kind of chaotic. But Ann from Belgium and our Wizard team found the precious: a huge golden ring. Go team Wizard!

Wizard Ann from Belgium with the precious (Photo by Tourism New Zealand)

After our afternoon tea and picknick with mr. Frodo scones we travelled further from Glenorchy to Twelve Mile Delta. Alongside the road where the filming locations of the Elven Lothlórien Woods and the site of the battle of Amon Hen, where Boromir is fatally wounded in the battle with the uruk-hai Lurz and Merry and Pippin are captured.

Hobbit PicknickBattle of Amon HenForests where the Battle of Amon Hen is filmed

Twelve Mile Delta is the filming location of Ithilien. Here is where Frodo, Sam and Gollum cook some ‘paters’, encouter the Oliphaunts and are being captured by Faramir and the rangers of Gondor.

“That’s where they sat, yeah!”Oliphaunts in The Two TowersThe filming location of Ithilien, Twelve Mile DeltaFrodo and Sam at Ithilien in The Two TowersOur best acting skills as Frodo and SamShot by a Gondor ranger’s arrowMatagouri thorns were used by early Māori as tattooing needlesSome beautiful landscapes around QueenstownSome beautiful landscapes around Queenstown

We ended our safari at AJ Hackett Bungy, above de Kawarau River. In The Lord of the Rings this is the river where the Argonath are located. Here we had diner and had the opportunity to zipline and to bungy jump: a 43 meters drop. Like Peter Jackson mentioned, “My brain isn’t wire to jump off a bridge”. I couldn’t agree more, so I didn’t jump, but the brave Arjen did.

I really understand now why New Zealand is called real Middle-earth. The filming locations we saw today were almost unreal. Everywhere we looked felt like we’re out of this world… in Middle-earth.

Here’s the video blog of day three by Tourism New Zealand:

In my next blog I will tell you about day four of The Hobbit Fan Fellowship journey, when we did a tour with Southern Discoveries around the beautiful area of Queenstown and we shot some zombies in 4D…

THIS BLOG IS PART 4 OF MY JOURNAL ABOUT MY UNEXPECTED JOURNEY TO NEW ZEALAND, AS WINNER OF THE HOBBIT FAN FELLOWSHIP CONTEST!

DAY 2: Hobbiton Movie set

After we enjoyed our first day in Rotorua, New Zealand, we slept for eleven hours this night (our bodies were desperately trying to catch up the jetleg). After a delicious breakfast in the Millenium Hotel in Rotorua there was a fire drill, but luckily we already were heading outside for today’s activities.

Beware: this post contains a lot of pictures. 😉 Click on the photos for a larger view.

Skyline Rotorua with view over Lake RotoruaSkyline Rotorua with Matthew, Floris and Alex

The first stop was the Rotorua Skyline. With a Gondola cableway we were brought on top of Mt Ngongotaha with a beautiful view over Lake Rotorua. Here we got to do some exciting activities, like ziplining, luging and the skyswing. We tried the luge, a kind of race car, in which you can race down the mountain across the stunning Redwood forest. Unfortunatley, it was raining quite hard, so our ludge cars filled with water and we were soaking wet. But it didn’t matter, because it was so much fun! I felt like the wizard Radagast the brown on his sleigh with Rhosgobel Rabbits racing through the forest! After we had a superb lunch, especially the deserts, in the Stratosfare Rotorua Restaurant we got back onto the coaches to our next destination: Matamata.

Radagast the Brown on his sleigh with Rhosgobel rabbitsThe local cat was drinking out of the luge carsDelicious buffet at Stratosfare Rotorua Restaurant

In the little town of Matamata we visited the information centre build in Middle-earth style. 150 crazy hobbit fans wanted to buy merchandise here, so we bought only a few things: a replica of the ‘No admittance except on party business’ sign, magnets and post cards. We also drank some coffee with our lovely Swedish friends. We got another chance to buy merchandise at the Shire’s Rest gift shop close to the Hobbiton Movie Set, where we bought hobbit beer, a Green Dragon replica mug and a replica of the key to Erebor.

Striking a pose in front of the visitors centre in MatamataStealing a kiss from Gollum

After a ten minute drive we were very close to Hobbiton. Our four wheel drive coaches drove us through the picturesque 1,250 acre sheep farm owned by Alexander family. This area was scouted in 1998 as a perfect place to depict the green hills of Tolkien’s Shire in Peter Jackson’s adaptation. The road to Hobbiton was build by the New Zealand army especially for filming The Lord of the Rings. After filming, everything had to be stripped down again. But for filming of The Hobbit the whole Hobbiton Movie Set was rebuild and this time with permanent materials: real bricks, wood and stone. I got goosebumps when we were given an unusual welcome by masked men on horses (probably the Alexander family). When the coach turned around the corner, down in the valley we saw the first glimpse of Hobbiton.

‘Welcome to Hobbiton’“I can’t believe we’re here!”

Visiting Hobbtion was one of the things on my bucket list. I was already planning to save some money every month to visit New Zealand one day, especially to visit the Hobbiton Movie Set. And now we were actually there! When we arrived the sun was shining, like it was meant to be. The moment we ran past the pebble stone wall like Gandalf and Frodo in The Fellowship of the Ring and Bilbo’s “I’m going on an adventure!” moment in The Unexpected Journey was something I will never forget. And yes, almost everyone started to cry when we took our first steps in Hobbiton.

First steps into Hobbiton“I’m going on an adventure!”

There we were: in the Shire with all the hobbit holes, flowers and laundry drying in the sun. We were welcomed by Russell Alexander himself, some champagne and a lady who looked like a hobbit on the violin, playing some folkish music. Our guide was the enthusiastic local Ethan Wellington (with the best job in the world) who guided us around Hobbiton, the little lake and the party field. He told us about the area, the movie set, the props and funny behind the scenes anecdotes.

Welcome by Russell Alexander, general manager of Hobbiton Movie Set Tours and unofficial ‘lord of the Shire’Our guide Ethan Wellington

Gardeners have spent three years before shooting The Hobbit to plant and let everything grow and bloom. The art department build 44 unique hobbit holes, all designed after the hobbits who supposedly live there: the baker, the fishermen, the lumberjack, etc. The details are absolutely stunning! Some of the hobbit holes are build on a smale scale so Gandalf (Ian McKellen) looked even larger when he stood in front of them when they filmed it.

A hobbit holeThe baker’s homeMe and Arjen with The Green Dragon

On top of the hill, under the (artificial) oak tree, there was of course Bag End, home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, with its green door and the ‘No admittance except on party business’ sign. In the grass we found some leafs of the oak tree, a really special and unique keepsake of this day.

After the tour we drank special brewed hobbit beer in The Green Dragon! All the details are phenomenal: the carving, furniture and little notes with ‘help needed for apple picking’.

Interior The Green DragonInterior The Green DragonInterior The Green Dragon

Drinking ale in The Green Dragon like true hobbits:

And there was a big surprise for us: behind the curtain there were some unexpected guests waiting for us: Dori, Nori, Oin and Bombur! The actors Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, Steven Hunter and John Callen were there to meet us. All night they stayed with us taking photos and to give autographs. They were so nice!

It was a real celebration to be together at The Green Dragon. We enjoyed the food, drinks, music, the company, the scenery and did some archery… We could live here forever.

Arjen with Mark Hadlow (Dori)Me with Jed Brophy (Nori)Showing off my inner Legolas at The Green DragonGroup photo with actors Hobbiton Movie Set MatamataParty at The Green DragonHobbiton by night

And the surprises weren’t over yet! We all gathered inside a party tent and we got to see the newest trailer of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies which came straight out of the editing room, a few days before it was released worldwide. And to commemorate this evening, the dwarves sang for us ‘The Misty Mountain’ song.

When it was dark outside, Gandalf gave us a surprise firework show! Or were Merry and Pippin secretly involved? As icing on the cake, we did a night tour around Hobbiton and danced at the party field.

This was definitely a night (and whole day) to remember. It was one of my favorite days of the whole journey, a memory and experience I will treasure whole my life.

THIS BLOG IS PART 3 OF MY JOURNAL ABOUT MY UNEXPECTED JOURNEY TO NEW ZEALAND, AS WINNER OF THE HOBBIT FAN FELLOWSHIP CONTEST

Day 1: A Maori Welcome

After a 25 hour flight, we arrived on Sunday the 2nd of November at 7.00AM in Auckland. We were given a warm welcome by our hosts of Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand (dressed up as elves), and a huge statue of a Durin dwarf (on loan from Middle-earth). We’ve made it!

Dwarf statue at Auckland airport

In the Novotel Auckland Hotel we finally got to shower, put on clean clothes (after 25 hours in airplanes this was such a good feeling) and enjoyed our second breakfast like real Hobbits. This was the first time all the winners and their guests were together. Everyone was still a wee bit shy, but already very enthousiastic. The head of the organisation officially welcomed us in New Zealand and told us that we were the 150 winners out of 140.000 entries worldwide! I really felt incredibly lucky.

We also received our Hobbit goodiebags with official Hobbit Fan Fellowship Contest t-shirts, Hobbit feet socks and lots and lots of other goodies. We were divided into groups with whom we will be travelling the rest of the trip. We expected that we were in the Europe group (aka the dwarves), but that wasn’t the case. Besides the elves (Asia) and the Hobbits (USA) there was a ‘rest of the world group’: the Wizards. The Wizards were people from New-Zealand, Australia, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Belgium and Holland. Our hosts were Emma Bell (Tourism New Zealand) and Natascha Webb (Air New Zealand). What we didn’t know yet, was that the Wizards were going to be the best group ever.

We were given a special lanyard to enter the airport of Auckland. After an inspection by police dogs, we entered the runway to make a group photo in front of one of the Hobbit airplanes (a Boeing 777-300ER) of Air New Zealand. Did I already mention that Air New Zealand is the coolest airline in the world?

Group photo Air New Zealand

By (the Wizard) coach, we really started our journey and travelled to Rotorua. I couldn’t believe my eyes when the first landscapes of New Zealand passed by: little green hills that reminded me of the Shire with trees like those in Lothlórien and Mirkwood. Since we were with the locals/kiwi’s in the Wizard group, they could tell us some lovely details about the area. We also got a personal video message from Peter Jackson (how cool is that), who told us about our first destination: Te Puia.

Te Puia is New Zealand’s living Maori cultural centre. Here we got a tour by the hilarious guide Carla around the geothermic area with boiling mudpools and geyers (which smell like rotten eggs because of the sulfur). And we got to see a real Kiwi bird! I always thought it would be the size of a small parrot, but it actually had the size of a big chicken!

Geysers Te Puia

After the tour, we were given a traditional Maori welcome, the pōwhiri, followed by the Wero or challenge. Two chiefs had to pick up a leaf whilst being challenged by a threatening Maori warrior (don’t worry, it all went very well). In the behind the scenes of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit I’ve seen that the crew and cast were also given a traditional Maori welcome at the first day of shooting. It felt really special to have witnessed this too.

Our chiefs during the Wero

In the meeting house, the Maori gave a concert, but we couldn’t just sit back: we also had to participate. The men learned the haka, a traditional ancestral war cry, dance or challenge and the women learned a poi dance. After the titi torea, a dance with sticks, a traditional diner was served: the hangi. While having this delicious diner, our host sang a birthday song for the birthday girl Manesha from our Wizard group.

The first day went by so fast! We came as guests to Te Puia, but we left as family. It was a really special experience to witness these old traditions of the Maori people. It was a beautiful way to be introduced to New Zealand on our first day.

Back at the hotel, there was a little surprise. On our bed there was a bottle of Hobbit Southfarthing Frogmorton ginger beer, a hint for tomorrow’s destination:

Hobbit Southfarthing Frogmorton ginger beer

I can’t wait to tell you about day two, one of the most exciting days of The Hobbit Fan Fellowship Contest when we went to the Hobbtion movie set! Read about this in my next blog. In the meantime, I highly recommend to watch the first video dairy made by the film crew of Tourism New Zealand (gosh, they have the best job in the world). They captured the first day beautifully: